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Nightfall-CBC Radio Program-Episodes

Topics: Radio programs, CBC, Canadian Radio Program, Classic radio, Old Time Radio, OTR, 1980's Radio program, Nightfall, Horror, Horror, Thriller, Suspense, sci-fi stories

A collection of The AWESOME 1980'S CANADIAN RADIO PROGRAM NIGHTFALL!
This revised listing contains VBR and OGG Vorbis files as well! (Thanks mods)

MORE TO COME SOON! Enjoy!
:)

Addeddate: 2010-12-24 01:49:43

Boxid: OL100020611

Identifier: Nightfall-cbcRadioProgram-episodesMp3Format

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Reviews

Reviewer: Anonymous - - July 23, 2023
Subject: My Favorite Radio Series

My favorites:

1. The Reposession
2. Welcome to Homerville
3. The Assassination Game
4. The Monkey's Raincoat
5. The Tie That Binds
6. A Shortwave Goodbye (great ending)
7. Carmilla
8. Wildcats
9. The Room
10. The Signalman

Reviewer: OldRadioComedyPodcast - - December 11, 2021
Subject: One Of The Best

Nightfall just went to show that high-quality radio dramas could still be produced and appreciated long after the "golden age" of radio had passed. Much like CBS Radio Mystery Theater did. I absolutely love this show - every episode - and have listened to each one over and over again. Excellent production values, excellent acting, excellent stories, excellent writing. So glad this is available for us to enjoy!

Reviewer: Gemini62167 - - November 23, 2019
Subject: I Love This - Thank You!

I was in love with CBS Mystery Theater as a kid, but I didn't know that Nightfall was around at roughly that time as well. Not that it really mattered at the time as it wasn't broadcast in the U.S. at least in my area. And of course, there was no such thing as the internet.

It is so wonderful to be able to listen to these now. Thank you for taking the time to upload these to Archive.org for others to enjoy!

Reviewer: newdickmorris - - April 29, 2019
Subject: Monkey's Paw

This is my favorite version of The Monkey's Paw. I think it's even better than the original story.

I also liked The Repossession, Where Do We Go From Here?, and The Tie That Binds.

Reviewer: michaelr12 - - March 12, 2019
Subject: Nightfall CBC Radio Episodes

The best radio I have ever heard. Have to get into it. Listen good. Very Good Love it!!! Thank you.

Reviewer: jenx1 - - March 24, 2015
Subject: my favorites!

ty for the listens. nightfall is my very favorite out of all the "old time radio" programs. even passes x minus 1. ty for the uploads and nany hours of scare!

Reviewer: BetterEyes - - December 22, 2013
Subject: Amazing Radio Production

Nightfall and Vanishing Point are two of my favorite, more modern old time radio productions. In particular, I LOVE the incredibly haunting and sad song that plays 24 minutes and 16 seconds into the Nightfall episode, Lifeline. I wish I knew if it was from a popular song, or if it was just written and performed for this episode. I have tried searching the internet but have found very little.

Reviewer: Ripcord - - November 16, 2013
Subject: Thanks

Most horror series aren't really scary. Nightfall is one of the exceptions. Thanks to all for recommendations and tips!

Reviewer: TheOutsiderRubbish - - August 12, 2013
Subject: Nothing Else Like It

Everything that a prior reviewer mentions as a criticism I think makes this show truly one of a kind: Lack of corny gothic style, imagery and setting. There are 1000 good episodes from Lights Out, Inner Sanctum and a bunch of others with that already. It can be good, but didn't need to be revisited in 1981. This show generates a new atmosphere for every episode, sporadically, unevenly and, again, that is a strength not a weakness.

Yin-Yang going on here, since I am the complete opposite on the contemporary plays and those based on earlier fiction. I don't like the Poe-Hardy-Stevenson remakes. I like the stuff from the Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal playwrights most. The blunt, 'tacky' aspect is a great strength of many of these episodes:

Listen to video-games-are-evil episode No Quarter and hear Paul Weaver correct Vicky Weaver when she says: "Maybe I should come get you so you're not wasting your cab fare on Dinkey King". Paul Weaver corrects: "DONkey KONG". Painfully tacky and corny...awesome!

But, not every episode stands out because it is 'so bad it's good', like No Quarter. The Road Ends at the Sea is the best radio show episode I have ever heard. It has made me think deeply about life and death like perhaps only a Keats ode such as Ode to a Nightingale might evoke (which, incidentally, is quoted in The Undertaker) and has a perfect combo of spacey seashore ambiance, airy synthesizers and a powerful dialog. SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT. When Skully describes the approaching boat and the black barge, there is something about the way he does it that I cannot get over. Huge praise to Tim Wynne-Jones for writing this moving episode and for all the actors who made it happen.

Other epidoes worth listening to again and again:
i. Beyond the Law: "Melodramatic Crime" (whatever that is!) as it's described by the host. Cool Coltrane-like sax interludes, which clash with the story a bit, but like the result of someone boldly experimenting as opposed to just being bad.
ii. No Quarter: Mentioned. One of the so-bad-it's-good episodes
iii. Special Services: Think Coma, Altered States and a bunch of other 1970s medical thriller mysteries distilled into the early 1980s and a dose of overacting thrown in for good measure
iv. The Dentist: Another medical mystery. Interesting and re-listenable over and over
v. Deadly Developments: Another favorite. Sounds so contemporary, not trying to be 'gothic' or whatever. Sounds like people working/hanging at somewhere like Sam Ash music shop thrust into strange circumstances. This is almost a predecessor to The Ring, though it had antecedents in sub-plot elements of The Omen and elsewhere
vi. The Repossession: Pretty intense

Hope I've praised this show enough cause I am not sure I have. If not, add some more praise to the above.

Reviewer: Dream On - - December 4, 2012
Subject: Not so good - "The Weird Circle" it ain't.

Well, not all of the episodes are here - the two-part "Blood Countess" (about the "vampire" Lady Bathory) is not here - and as violent and seedy as it is, it has genuine power. I'd almost recommend it, in fact I do. But again, you'll have to look at other sources of "Nightfall" on this site.

As for what is here. Episodes derived from older sources can be good, but if you hear the phrase "...we present to you a chilling tale from Edmonton/Vancouver/Ottowa/Toronto writer...", you can skip it. Those episodes (and most all episodes here) are tacky rubbish. Often violent rubbish. The caliber of acting is wildly uneven. Some of the material here reminds me of the BBC's "Fear on Four" series - sometimes effective, but with real sadism as opposed to gothic atmosphere and poetry. I actually like the '80s synths - it matches the seediness of the show in general.

But! The good ones here (and there are some) would be:

1. Carmilla.
2. The Appetite of Mr. Lucraft.
3. Late Special.
4. The Stone Ship (gripping, actually).
5. They Bite.
6. Blood Countess parts 1 & 2 (not available here).
7. The Body Snatchers.
8. The Fatal Eggs.
9. Hands Off.
10. The Tell-Tale Hear (A very odd version).

A mixed bag.

Reviewer: nighthouse66 - - September 26, 2012
Subject: some of the best....

nightfall is definitely my second-favorite all time radio series, second only to the staggering "vanishing point" (highly, HIGHLY reccomended, and on this site). and as another reviewer noted, get past the corniness and you have some seriously bizarre, dark stories. my favorite is "the all nighter", about a woman who keeps finding blood and human flesh in the the washers and driers of the all night laundromat she works at. like, what the hell? thanks for keeping these available.

Reviewer: traininvain - - May 5, 2012
Subject: Thanks

I loved these shows when I first came across them and thought I was limited to the few tapes I managed to preserve over the years. To come across this site was really fantastic and I really appreciate being able to listen to the Nightfall classics again.

Reviewer: uh_clem - - April 3, 2012
Subject: Good radio series

Really good radio show. Unfortunately I found many of the mp3 episodes wouldn't play with Windows Media Player.

Reviewer: Vic Demise - - September 19, 2011
Subject: (Good show!!)

The first one has an annoying bit of voice-over added, after that, it's just smooth sailing!!
ENJOY THE SHOW(S)!!

Reviewer: radiophoto - - September 12, 2011
Subject: Wrong Titles to Some Shows, etc.

"Nightfall_CBC_81-02-20_34_The_Monkeys_Paw.mp3" is actually "The Book of Hell". A later "Book of Hell" on the list is titled correctly.

"Nightfall_CBC_81-03-13_37_Wind_Chill" is actually called "Breaking Point". A later "Breaking Point" is titled correctly.

"Nightfall_CBC_81-04-10_41_Repossession" is actually called "Cemetery Stuff". EDIT: It is "Stop" and not "Stuff", as OTRJunkie points out -- I was going by what I thought I'd heard the announcer say.

These are pretty good shows, with some good writing and excellent acting. While I haven't heard the whole list yet, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that at least 2/3 of the one I have listened to are worthy of a 2nd listen.

Reviewer: Tiskit Tothead - - August 23, 2011
Subject: Best Blood Shedding Radio Series Ever!

I grew up listening to these shows every Friday night in the early 80s with my dad in Maine. The old timer style of "the edge" narrators references Inner Sanctum, while the referring to the shows as plays links up to the old Mercury Theatre on air. Spin that into pure early 80s blood throwing and you have a marvelous culture pinpoint. It's great to have access to these again.

Reviewer: OTRJunkie - - August 23, 2011
Subject: to radio photo

isn't that "cemetery Stop?" not 'stuff?" just wondering!
OTRjunkie

Reviewer: yuma - - April 12, 2011
Subject: WHAT IS THE MATTER

Nightfall is a great show. The cornyness in the opening is golden age Radio, even if it was in the 1980s. All great horrer shows had that kind of opening. Lights out, the Inner Sanctum, an on. So give it a try, you will get hook.

Reviewer: Jak Frost - - January 13, 2011
Subject: These are ACTUALLY scary!

Once you get past the terrible synth music interludes, these stories are actually quite wonderfully disturbing.
Necrophilia, murder, despair, desperation, severed hands, monstrous deeds, corruption, evil, madness... everything that makes a good horror story.
The problem is getting there, this is a terrible site to find anything. BUT if you can find Nightfall, I can not recommend it highly enough. Who knew the CBC could actually be scary? I never heard these as a kid, too bad, it would have been vastly better than being forced to watch The Beachcombers. (Canadians will understand) :)

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